AAVIK ACOUSTICS U-150 UNITY INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
August 12, 2018 Comments Off on AAVIK ACOUSTICS U-150 UNITY INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW
” If anything, the Aavik U-150 falls into the inviting sounding presentation, although that makes it sound like its a bad thing. Actually, it just makes music sound like it’s the kind of thing you’d want to listen to, rather than analyse. It’s dynamic and exciting, accurate, and yet not bland or sparce. It’s just a damn good amplifier, and a perfect ambassador for Class D.
What the Aavik U-150 does so well (as the U-300 does so well) is deliver a consistent and integrated performance. Some amplifiers are a great DAC with a mediocre amp attached, or a fine line-stage with an afterthought of a phono section. The Aavik platform is none of those things. It is an exciting performer regardless of whether you are using the line stages, the DAC or the phono. And, also like the U-300, the Aavik platform really ties the music together well. Music flows well with Aavik, and the sound easily moves from theme to theme and from beat to beat.”
Micromega M-150 Integrated Amplifier Review
August 11, 2018 § 1 Comment
“Thirdly, the mobile app for the M-150 can be a little hit or miss. At least on iOS. Some days it’s all, “Hey, there’s your amp! Here’s some internet radio you might enjoy!” Other days it’s more along the lines of, “Dude, you sure you own one of our products?” And on other days still it just craps the bed and dies. That might have something to do with my enterprise-grade network, which I know some audiophile products just don’t get along with. But the inconsistency of its reliability makes me think probably not.”
Aurum Cantus LEISURE 2 LUXURY MkII Review
August 10, 2018 Comments Off on Aurum Cantus LEISURE 2 LUXURY MkII Review
“The rosewood gloss finish is just superb, never mind the price. Granted, Aurum Cantus did cut a few corners by using a black gloss for the rear and bottom panels, but even these parts of the speaker are not out of place, and the deep black gloss compliments the rosewood. Inspect the speaker carefully. Quality is instantly apparent, especially on the front sloped baffle that facilitates time/phase coherence.”
Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 Review
August 10, 2018 Comments Off on Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 Review
“This octave is getting its own section. It is that good. First, it is perfectly integrated with the mid bass, mids and treble. Nothing sticks out. But when specified by the composer or the engineer, pow! Try the two tubas (low F) and bass drum in the opening of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (Salonen/LA/DGG)—this is one of my hidden gems to surprise guests. On this live recording, the engineers replicate the sound perfectly. All three instruments are separated by tone and in space, but the effect, the visceral movement of air, is astonishing.
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Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker $93,000 Review
August 9, 2018 Comments Off on Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker $93,000 Review
“As expressive and balanced as they are, man, can the Spirits rock! I heard stories from Philip O’Hanlon of absurdly loud SPLs with no distortion, and I have no trouble believing them, as my own rocking-out test had them playing briefly at 110–115dB peaks with absolutely no sign of stress or strain. During this experiment, I kept turning them up, certain that at some point they would start to distort. Good sense took over long before I ever found a breaking point; they do have a 1600-watt power-handling rating, after all! With clean and dynamic power amplifiers (the Audionet MAXes deliver 400 watts into 8 ohms and the CIA Audio D500 MkII’s bring 500 watts to the party), these speakers seemed utterly bullet-proof.”
Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblock power amplifier $42,000 Review
August 8, 2018 Comments Off on Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblock power amplifier $42,000 Review
“The XA200.8s’ reproduction of air around individual instruments was fine, but through Wilson Audio’s Alexia and Alexia 2 speakers the Progression Monos topped it in the presentation of the entire acoustic spaces of recording venues. The D’Agostino also excelled in dynamic contrast—hardly a surprise, given the Progression Mono’s greater power into these 4 ohm Wilson speakers: 1000W vs the XA200.8’s 400W.”
FENDER FXA9 $1.299 REVIEW
August 8, 2018 Comments Off on FENDER FXA9 $1.299 REVIEW
“From the A&Futura SE100, the FXA9 sounds smoother and clearly has a touch of warmth all over. Bass is a bit thicker but it’s also slower and less detailed/layered. The presentation of the mids is smoother and that actually goes for bass and treble as well. It’s an easy to listen to combo but you don’t get the sound stage, spaciousness and separation the SP1000 and FXA9 combo brings. It’s still a balanced FXA9 but it’s more relaxed and soft. I myself prefer the more energetic signature the FXA9 delivers from the SP1000.”
DYNAUDIO CONTOUR 30 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
August 7, 2018 Comments Off on DYNAUDIO CONTOUR 30 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“The joy of the Contour 30 is it is perfectly designed to work precisely where it should work: in mid-sized rooms. The loudspeaker is large enough to physically and sonically dominate small rooms, and is probably just not quite loudspeaker enough in really big rooms, but in a medium sized room it works nigh-on perfectly. I can’t help but think of Goldilocks and the Three Bearshere. In a smaller room, if you want this performance, go with a Special Forty or a Contour 20 (but probably the Special Forty) and in a bigger room, possibly go for the Contour 60 or the C2 Platinum. That’s the other secret joy of Dynaudio – the company has nailed consistency. There’s no batch variation in individual models, and the individual models have a consistent sound through the ranges. Many brands make that claim and some achieve that goal with a smaller and more high-end portfolio. Dynaudio smashes this one out of the park – if you like the sound of the bigger or smaller models but have a room that’s too small or too big, the Contour 30 fits. If you think this sounds like faint praise, guess again.”
Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 Headphones $1999
August 5, 2018 Comments Off on Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 Headphones $1999
“In his “Conclusion,” Brent declared: “I think Audio-Technica put themselves back among the top players in audiophile headphones — something that hasn’t really been true since the rise of ambitious audiophile-focused competitors such as Audeze and HiFiMan.” The ATH-ADX5000s are “sonically competitive with anything on the market up to at least $3000,” he said; “if you’re looking for high-end open-back headphones, they’re a must-hear.” Appropriately enough, with the ATH-ADX5000s, Audio-Technica is now included in our list of Recommended Reference Components for the very first time.”
SHUNYATA RESEARCH DENALI D6000/T POWER DISTRIBUTOR REVIEW
August 5, 2018 Comments Off on SHUNYATA RESEARCH DENALI D6000/T POWER DISTRIBUTOR REVIEW
” Alongside the CCI filters, the Denali also sports a patented ‘QR/BB’ dynamic enhancement. Typically, a power conditioner stores some power in capacitors, chokes, or coils. This is available to the devices that use the conditioner, but big ‘pulls’ on power delivery from the wall are not completely instantaneous as a result. This is why many power conditioners got short shrift with users of big power amplifiers, or – paradoxically – smaller power amps with stiff power supplies that give a taut, fast rhythm. In the first case, a power conditioner can seem to dynamically compress the sound, in the latter it acts to slow it down. Not here, though”
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